danger garden

Wednesday, March 25, 2026

Moss: rare, common, and despised

This tale of moss starts at Terra Sol Garden Center in Santa Barbara (a stop on our drive back home after a stay in Thousand Oaks, CA), and has nothing to do with moss, at least to begin with.

Monkey tail cactus! (Cleistocactus colademononis, I believe)

I don't know exactly why I find this sign so humorous, but I do. Do they think a cartoon monkey is going to help sell an expensive plant?

They have ferns!

If I hadn't already picked up a Blechnum gibbum 'Silver Lady' earlier in our trip I would have definitely grabbed one here.

Platycerium superbum, $49

This! Some sort of large Epiphyllum. Guess how much. Seriously, guess. Bet you were wrong.

What!?!

Okay so now I've discovered the moss, very unexpected. Maybe even rare, in these parts.

Buy it by the square inch for .50 cents, or by the square foot for $56. If you really want to get carried away you can get 5 square feet for $279, but I wonder where they're keeping those larger quantities because they aren't here...

Carpet moss? I didn't take a photo with an easily read label.

A few weeks later and a stop at the Oregon Flower Growers Association where there was a selection of moss on offer. A flat here (approximately 1ft x 2 ft) was going for $16.50. Moss isn't so rare up here in the Portland area.

Back at home I was thinking about those moss prices as I did my annual spring clean-out of the rock-moat around the patio, and spent far too long staring at the nearby moss.

I'm lucky that I don't have to pay .50 cents an square inch for this!

On the other hand, we did just pay a local company a large sum of money (as in a few hundred dollars) to spray the moss on our roof, so that our new homeowners insurance wouldn't cancel our coverage.

I find it rather ironic that I rescue moss when it falls from trees in the neighborhood (and bring it home) and I cultivate it in my own garden, and yet we were paying someone to kill it.

As you might have guessed I was VERY concerned they'd end up killing not just the roof moss, but moss around the garden and other plants too (a bleach mixture that kills moss but doesn't hurt your plants... that just doesn't seem possible).

Thankfully the damage was extremely minimal and I can still count my moss fortune one .50 cent square inch at a time.

I'm rich!

The Bit at the End

Lots of moss in the adorable hummingbird nests in this blog post from David Perry: A Few Small Birdy Updates.

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Monday, March 23, 2026

Back to the Sauvie Island garden of George and Maurice

I've had the pleasure of visiting this garden before, in March of 2023. The earlier visit was with a small group of friends, whereas this latest visit—which took place last July—was with a Hardy Fern Foundation group down from the Puget Sound area. The group was scheduled to visit my garden the next day, so I asked if I could meet up with them here, as I'd long wanted to see this garden in the summertime.

If you're wondering, yes, Maurice is Maurice Horn, of the now closed Joy Creek Nursery. Joy Creek had many wonderful fern tables, some of them built during workshops with Richie Steffen. I have a feeling this may be one of them.

I loved this simple bowl planter.

Filled with Lemmaphyllum microphyllum.

I didn't take photos of the shady patio/courtyard area during this visit, because tables were set up and the group was enjoying lunch. Please look back at my earlier post to see that marvelous part of the garden.

Deparia lobato-crenata

As noted in the title, this garden is on Sauvie Island, which is a little over 10 miles NW of downtown Portland, 15 miles from my house. I believe George and Maurice are on about 10 acres, but not all of the property is gardened.

I loved how they made use of cut bamboo culms with parts of their branches still attached, making a natural tuteur shape.

There are deer on the island, hence the vegetable garden is fenced.

Joy Creek nursery was known for clematis, it was nice see them growing here.

A shady area to the side of the patio/courtyard, just beyond is the formal garden.

Looking back towards the open area near the the veggie garden.

This photo... I have no memory of taking it. If it hadn't been in the middle of the photos in a folder marked "Maurice.7.15" I wouldn't believe it was from this garden.

Moving on, to an area in transition. If I remember correctly this area was hit hard in the winter storm of 2024, several trees down. They're making the most of it though...

So sunny!

Looking to the formal garden again, I feel transported (maybe France? Italy?).

On to the sun-loving plants, agaves and a Nolina hibernica 'La Siberica'.

So many agave pups!

The side of their property and the view beyond...

Arctostaphylos manzanita 'Dr. Hurd', and a sit-spot.

'Dr. Hurd' is so good he deserves another photo.

The formal garden again (the 3rd and last time)...

Garden in front of George and Maurice's home.

If I had arrived and went to the front door (rather than around back to the courtyard/patio) I would have went up these curving steps.

The view out from the house...

A zoomed in look at the shady spot under the trees above.

A butterfly on butterfly bush!

Digitalis some-somebody...

And back up at the area we all parked.

How wonderful this visit was, thank you for your hospitality George and Maurice, and to the HFF for letting my crash their visit...

The Bit at the End

Here's a film Andrew and I enjoyed recently; Perfect Days, by Wim Wenders. It's the opposite of a Hollywood blockbuster, it's just a man going about his life, which includes taking photos of trees.

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